The Boy in the Team

Chapter Ten

"Are you gay, Sasuke?" Naruko asked pointedly, staring straight in the eyes of the Uchiha.

"I find your method of hazing horrible, Dobe," Sasuke replied firmly. "I know how much you eat," he remarked. "And I'm not going to stand by and watch when my police instincts tell me when there's to right a wrong."

Naruko grumbled looking away, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Just you wait until he starts asking you favours," she said. "I'm not going to trust him for a long time."

"There's a difference, Dobe, between not trusting someone and hazing him. What next, you're going to have him carry your stuff?"

Naruko's eyes shone for a moment. "It's not a bad idea," she remarked, "Not a bad idea at all."

It was then that the hospital room opened up, to let out an arm bandaged Shinku Haruno. He awkwardly smiled as he slowly walked near them.

"Ah…seems I'll be fine by tomorrow," he acquiesced.

"No chakra healing, again? You've got something against it?" Sasuke retorted.

"N-No, it's just the medic said they keep it for the emergencies or the dangerous wounds…training wounds are nothing to worry about," Shinku was quick in answering. Sasuke frowned, before grounding his teeth and giving a curt nod of understanding.

"Ohi! Let's move," exclaimed Naruko, "I'm already hungry 'ttebayo!"

"You're always hungry, Bimbo," Sasuke snorted. "You're an endless pit. The moment you'll grow fat and begin to roll, I'll tie a chain to your mouth and use you as a wrecking ball."

Naruko snickered back, before slapping her rear. "A girl doesn't get fat, she gets curves!"

"If you're actually a girl I'm a Yaoi lover," Sasuke stated plainly.

She looked from him to Shinku with an appraising glance.

The next moment, she winced as Sasuke's fist collided with her head. "Really!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Ichiraku Ramen then! Let's go or we're going to be late!" and with that, Naruko fist-pumped and flickered away the moment she was out of the hospital.

Sasuke followed with a flicker of his own, and Shinku…well, Shinku walked.

The streets, so late during the day, had people returning home or families coming back from the park. Ichiraku's ramen wasn't that far away from the hospital, but in the time it took for him to reach it, he found himself in a line.

He couldn't see his teammates, and he certainly couldn't hear them. Maybe they had seen the line and gone elsewhere, or maybe…maybe they had just stepped inside before. As it was, he was glad when the line finally dwindled down and it was his turn to order.

"Take Away only!" the girl at the counter said with a bubbly smile. "All seats taken," she added then. The counter indeed brimmed with shinobi and civilians alike, and the place was packed with other people waiting for their own turn.

"Pork ramen," he said, paying and then patiently waiting his turn for the takeaway cup and chopsticks. As he walked out, once more in the middle of the road, he began to frown and gaze upwards. It wasn't yet seven o'clock. He didn't want to think badly about it, but really…hadn't the other two just upped and disappeared?

He reached training ground Seven with an hour to spare, and as he sat down with his back resting against the wooden pole that practically was 'his' he sighed.

At least the ramen was still warm by the time he snapped the chopsticks and began to eat.

Sasuke Uchiha watched from a nearby tree the scene, and then turned his gaze towards Naruko. "Happy now?"

Naruko huffed, shaking her head. "It means nothing. Just because he remained in line means nothing."

She had a bag of takeaway ramen in her arms, as she slowly opened another cup to eat.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, holding on to his own. "I don't know how you managed to rope me in on this."

"Well, I told you we were going to be late if we didn't hurry. That's why you moved all the way till here," Naruko remarked. "And eating on a tree is common enough in the shinobi force —better than chairs for some."

"You could wave at him at least," Sasuke pointed out, eying Shinku down below.

"Nope," Naruko replied with a shrug. "He's a Genin, not a toddler. Frankly, I'd be angry already at being stood up. He'll just forgive us because we're awesome and he's not, and then you'll see I was right."

"Or maybe he's really just shy, and you're acting like a two-ryo bully," Sasuke deadpanned. "You are saying you're sorry about leaving without waiting for him."

"Meh," Naruko muttered. "It's all your fault anyway, Uke-chan. If you had just run ahead, then he'd have ended up paying the Ramen. As it was, I couldn't let him leech off you."

"From the smell, I'd say a Pork ramen isn't 'leeching off' as much as simply having the same thing he had the last time we went there."

"Details," Naruko rolled her eyes. "Leeches and fleas are everywhere. You need to be careful on who to trust, or you'll just get hurt in the end."

"You're reaching paranoia-levels, Dobe," Sasuke replied. "Just look at him. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"You remember Hinata?" Naruko retorted. "Shy and meek, but in the end it was her father's will to get her close to us. She just used us to get in his good graces."

"Is that why you stopped talking to her?"

"Like Ino, the bitch," Naruko continued, "wanting to be 'best friends forever' lasted until a guy came close enough for her to swoon over. When the guy came onto me, then she began listing my defects," Naruko snorted. "And there's Kiba who's a mutt in heat, then there's Shikamaru who's just a lazy smartass. I heard him say 'Troublesome, she gets nice marks with little effort because of her surname' 'ttebayo!"

"You sure he said that?"

"Something similar to his mother," Naruko muttered. "I'm sure he just needs someone to talk with, and then you'll see how he opens up and starts spewing his 'I'm in the team with the two prodigies, please lick my shoes' or something like that."

"You understand I'm an Uchiha, and I was trained in profiling like any other Uchiha in the police force?" Sasuke remarked. "And if I tell you he doesn't strike me like that type…"

"I'll just say you need to stop being an Uke and open your damn eyes. Trust me, Duckbutt," she mumbled. "I'm going to prove he's just a leech, even if it's the last thing I do 'ttebayo."

Sasuke sighed. There was no way he'd manage to convince Naruko she was wrong. The girl always had to end up headfirst against walls before she learned how to avoid them.

He finished his own ramen, and then flickered down in front of Shinku.

"Sorry," Sasuke said as he appeared in front of the startled boy. "There were so many people we just ordered and then dashed off. We couldn't wait for you there because they kept pestering us."

Shinku just awkwardly nodded, while Naruko appeared a second later still scarfing down on her ramen.

"Yup. Shorry Shin-schan!"

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Dobe!" Sasuke snarled.

Kakashi Hatake appeared at seven o'clock precise in front of his team, holding on to a single backpack.

"Very well team! Follow me!"

As the man began to walk, and the Genin followed, Shinku had a bad feeling. The feeling intensified the more they walked towards the borders of the village, and by the time they passed the gates, he actually began to sweat.

"Ohi, Kakashi-Nii? Where the hell are we going?" Naruko asked, warily looking at the sun dying over the horizon.

"To a fun place!" Kakashi replied jovially. "I'll make sure to get you all trained up. If I have to stop being a freeloader, then I want you all to feel a bit of my despair, Fufufu!"

"Did he just go 'fufufu' on us?" Sasuke whispered to Naruko.

"I think he snapped," Naruko swallowed hard. "Ehi, isn't this way the one for…"

Then Kakashi stopped, bringing his right arm up to gesture at a tall fence gate.

"Welcome to your home away from home for the next month! Rather than let you waste your time on boring D-ranks, the Hokage and I came up with a solution to challenge both the two 'prodigies' and ensure teambuilding!"

Shinku felt suddenly very afraid.

"Your parents were forewarned of course," Kakashi added then, "But as you're all Genin now, you're all my little soldiers! If I want to train you on boiling lava, then I'll do just that!"

"Kakashi-Nii…don't you think you're taking things too far?" Naruko said then hesitantly.

"Uhm…you said something?" Kakashi replied, holding on to his Icha-Icha Gore fest Two-Thousand.

The Jounin stopped in front of a gate with a black Four painted on its surface. "This, here, is Training Ground Forty-Four!"

Naruko blinked.

"No," she said quite firmly.

"This is kidnapping," Sasuke deadpanned.

Shinku just kept on swallowing his saliva.

"Also known as the Training Ground of Death! And for an entire month, instead of doing stupid D-ranks, you will have to survive in here! There's no better teacher than life itself, no better education than being left alone and unsupervised in the middle of the most dangerous stretch of forest around Konoha! And frankly, it gives me free time to do more important stuff!"

"So that's your reason!?" Sasuke screamed, pointing a finger at Kakashi. "You lazy bastard!"

"Meh," Kakashi shrugged. "You've all received enough training to be well-fit veteran Genin," the Jounin commented, "And frankly, pulling Shinku up to par wouldn't help teambuilding so…it's your call! Train him or leave him as he is, in one month of time I'll come back."

"This doesn't have anything to do with Ero-sennin's latest book coming out tomorrow, right Kakashi-Nii?" Naruko asked quietly.

"If I were you I'd move inside while there's still some light!" Kakashi cheerfully added. "But then again…" he clapped his hands, "If I did that then you'd find the way out in less than a month!"

"Uh, ehi Kaka—" a fist slammed in Naruko's guts, knocking the girl out before the silver-haired lunatic brought his other hand down on Sasuke's neck. Then, the last thing Shinku saw was a fist coming straight for his forehead.

His last thought…was that he wanted to go home.

Author's notes

…I'm not doing the Wave Arc.

Too many people do the Wave Arc. If you want the Wave Arc, just point it out between this chapter and the one at the end of the thirty-days and I'll cook some angst up for a Different-Wave Arc. Or not.

In before the 'Trained from hell makes him uber'. No. Snort. No. No training from hell will end well. At all.